Tomorrow or next day I will go to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds even though the Fair is over, because I need to
pick up my entry in the needlework competition – I won a red ribbon, coming in
second in the senior arena with my Christmas stocking.
It has a B on it because it’s a gift for my
good friend Becky, who came to England
with me a few years back. I got sick on
the flight over and wound up in Leicester
hospital. We went there for the reburial
of King Richard III’s bones, found under a parking lot. Only I missed almost all of the ceremonies,
and poor Becky, who is not a fan of medieval English history, stayed without
complaint in Leicester and missed most of the other things we were scheduled to
see, and was a great comfort to me. The
stocking is the least I can do to thank her.
The closing of the Fair marks
the end of summer in Minnesota. That was underlined yesterday when I was out on our balcony and saw that
of the five trees across the street, three are turning gold already - not just
here and there, but all over. It feels
early for that marked a change, but I am further reminded that in the hat-wearing
population, it’s after Labor Day, so straw hats are now put away until spring
(white shoes, too). I'm not really complaining; I like autumn, I
feel energized this time of year when the sun shrinks south and the thick, wet
air cools, dries, and smells of apples. The
Michaelmas goose is fattening, unaware of his fate: who eats goose at
Michaelmas (September 29) will have enough money for the next year. I will stuff him with cloves of garlic, chopped apples, and onions, and invite my friends to share the promised blessing.
2 comments:
Congrats on winning your red ribbon! And enjoy fall. That's something I generally miss, living in California now after growing up in Pennsylvania, and it used to be my favorite season.
Your stocking is lovely. How nice that you won a ribbon. I'm with Linda about missing fall in Southern California. It's a lot more subtle than back east. October was always my favorite month in Chicago and I'm looking forward to a trip there this October.
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